Thursday, December 20, 2012

Celebrating African Success

There was a
dinner last week in Nairobi to toast James Mwangi the CEO of Equity Bank who
won the second edition of the Forbes Africa Person of the year award (edging
out President Joyce Banda of Malawi, Stephen Saad, Aliko Dangote & Tony
Elumelu. In capping off this award-winning year for him, he spoke about the
need for Africans, and particularly Kenyans to celebrate wealth and success not
to be shy & hide about it.

This has been something that Ory (@kenyanpundit) has spoken
of the in the past and a reason that there are few interesting award events to attend
– as you keep seeing the same people & companies over and over being feted or
speaking at events over and over –as if
they are the only entrepreneurs in town. Yet it if you look at the construction
that the construction that's changing Nairobi from Westlands to Eastlands, with new office towers, hotels, and residential estates, this is all private
sector development largely done by anonymous entrepreneurs using vague company names.

You will see a few other magazines like Management, Business Post,
CIO, or some local TV shows profile a few new entrepreneurs CEO’s but nothing
like the Forbes List.

The Forbes list of Richest Africans itself may be controversial - in the region
Kenya had Naushad Merali, Tanzania has Salim Bakhresa, and Uganda had Sudhir
Ruparelia, and dropping off from last year's list were Uhuru Kenyatta, Chris Kirubi, Mohamed Al Fayed and Strive Masiyiwa.

For various reasons – modesty, not wanting your rivals to know what
you're up to, fear of revealing secrets and business interests to creditors, or
even family members, some entrepreneurs are shy about celebrating their success
in public or with the media. But perhaps, the biggest reason for a successful entrepreneur to keep a low
profile is because tax collectors at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) are also
avid readers and viewers – and a high profile celebration, with dollar figures
attached is likely to be followed by a friendly visit by tax agents.